82.0°,
Partly Cloudy Hewlett clinches playoff spot
Gets No. 14 seed; red-hot Lawrence No. 6
The Nassau Class A boys’ basketball playoffs started three days early as far as Hewlett and Lynbrook were concerned. Tied for the fourth and final postseason berth in Conference A-II, the locals met in a win-or-go-home regular-season finale on Monday.
The host Bulldogs, led by underclassmen Weldon Irvine and Avery Feldman, came back to beat the Owls, 43-34, to sneak into the playoffs as the No. 14 seed. Irvine, a sophomore, had 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Feldman, a freshman, added 13 points and seven boards.
“The main thing is, we’re in,” head coach Bill Dubin said. “It’s great to see a bunch of young players step up and play well in a pressure game. Of our 11 players, two are freshmen, four are sophomores and six are juniors. I’m happy for them.”
Hewlett (5-7 in conference games, 7-8 overall), which began practice Nov. 17 with five seniors, were down to none by late January but still managed to finish ahead of Lynbrook, Bethpage and Plainedge to extend the program’s playoff streak to seven consecutive seasons. The Bulldogs will visit Seaford, the Conference A-IV champion, in a first-round game Thursday night.
“We’re resilient, young and exuberant,” Dubin said. “I don’t think too many players were nervous tonight. We missed a lot of layups in the second quarter and let them back in the game, but we came through in the end.”
Lynbrook, which got a game-high 18 points from senior Kendall Bruton, dug a 16-8 hole after the first quarter but rallied to cut the margin to 19-17 at the half. The Owls continued their surge in the third and squeezed ahead for the first time and led by a basket heading into the fourth.
“We talked a little at halftime about moving better offensively and setting screens,” Dubin said. “What it came down to was our press-break in the fourth quarter.”
Hewlett’s starting guards, sophomores Harrison Brenner and Jake Lundenberg, handled Lynbrook’s pressure with heady passes, and junior Dylan Sasson knocked down a big trey that gave the Bulldogs all the momentum they would need.
